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Put H, Gerstmans H, Vande Capelle H, Fauvart M, Michiels J, Masschelein J. Bacillus subtilis as a host for natural product discovery and engineering of biosynthetic gene clusters. Nat Prod Rep 2024; 41:1113-1151. [PMID: 38465694 DOI: 10.1039/d3np00065f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
Covering: up to October 2023Many bioactive natural products are synthesized by microorganisms that are either difficult or impossible to cultivate under laboratory conditions, or that produce only small amounts of the desired compound. By transferring biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) into alternative host organisms that are more easily cultured and engineered, larger quantities can be obtained and new analogues with potentially improved biological activity or other desirable properties can be generated. Moreover, expression of cryptic BGCs in a suitable host can facilitate the identification and characterization of novel natural products. Heterologous expression therefore represents a valuable tool for natural product discovery and engineering as it allows the study and manipulation of their biosynthetic pathways in a controlled setting, enabling innovative applications. Bacillus is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria that is widely used in industrial biotechnology as a host for the production of proteins from diverse origins, including enzymes and vaccines. However, despite numerous successful examples, Bacillus species remain underexploited as heterologous hosts for the expression of natural product BGCs. Here, we review important advantages that Bacillus species offer as expression hosts, such as high secretion capacity, natural competence for DNA uptake, and the increasing availability of a wide range of genetic tools for gene expression and strain engineering. We evaluate different strain optimization strategies and other critical factors that have improved the success and efficiency of heterologous natural product biosynthesis in B. subtilis. Finally, future perspectives for using B. subtilis as a heterologous host are discussed, identifying research gaps and promising areas that require further exploration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanne Put
- Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Hans Gerstmans
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
- Laboratory for Biomolecular Discovery & Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
- Biosensors Group, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Hanne Vande Capelle
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
- Laboratory for Biomolecular Discovery & Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Maarten Fauvart
- Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
- imec, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jan Michiels
- Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
| | - Joleen Masschelein
- VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
- Laboratory for Biomolecular Discovery & Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
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Li S, He J, Wu Q, Gou J, Wang D, Niu X. Gene fusion and functional diversification of P450 genes facilitate thermophilic fungal adaptation to temperature change. Mycology 2024; 15:485-505. [PMID: 39247895 PMCID: PMC11376295 DOI: 10.1080/21501203.2024.2324993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 09/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Thermomyces dupontii harbors two P450 paralogs (P450S and P450L) in the gene cluster for the biosynthesis of prenylated indole alkaloids (PIAs) and correponding iron chelators with P450L assigned as one protein containing a CYP like domain fused with a FAD-binding domain-containing oxidoreductase. Genetic manipulation and metabolic profile analysis indicated both P450S and P450L were involved in transforming simple PIAs to their corresponding iron chelators. Moreover, P450S is responsible for bolstering simple PIAs to complex PIAs, and P450L for reinforcing conjugating unsaturated systems in complex PIAs. Chemical investigation led to isolation and characterization of novel complex PIA metabolites with more oxidations. P450L also contributed to forming the third iron-chelating core in iron chelators. A series of iron bioassays and infrastructure analysis revealed that lack of these P450 genes caused strongly elevated Fe3+ levels but attenuated Fe2+ levels, together with abnormal mitochondria in mycelia and lipid droplets and vacuoles in conidia. Phenotype analysis revealed that P450S and P450L facilitated fungal colony pigments, conidial formation and germination via bolstering conidiophores and cell walls in response to temperature reduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuhong Li
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, School of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory for Microbial Resources of the Ministry of Education, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Jiangbo He
- Kunming Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Kunming University, Kunming, China
| | - Qunfu Wu
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, School of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory for Microbial Resources of the Ministry of Education, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Jianghui Gou
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, School of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory for Microbial Resources of the Ministry of Education, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Donglou Wang
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, School of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory for Microbial Resources of the Ministry of Education, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Xuemei Niu
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, School of Life Sciences, Key Laboratory for Microbial Resources of the Ministry of Education, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
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Park SC, Steffan BN, Yun Lim F, Gupta R, Ayaloglu Butun F, Chen H, Ye R, Decker T, Wu CC, Kelleher NL, Woo Bok J, Keller NP. Terpenoid balance in Aspergillus nidulans unveiled by heterologous squalene synthase expression. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadk7416. [PMID: 38381828 PMCID: PMC10881027 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk7416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Filamentous fungi produce numerous uncharacterized natural products (NPs) that are often challenging to characterize because of cryptic expression in laboratory conditions. Previously, we have successfully isolated novel NPs by expressing fungal artificial chromosomes (FACs) from a variety of fungal species into Aspergillus nidulans. Here, we demonstrate a twist to FAC utility wherein heterologous expression of a Pseudogymnoascus destructans FAC in A. nidulans altered endogenous terpene biosynthetic pathways. In contrast to wild type, the FAC transformant produced increased levels of squalene and aspernidine type compounds, including three new nidulenes (1- 2, and 5), and lost nearly all ability to synthesize the major A. nidulans characteristic terpene, austinol. Deletion of a squalene synthase gene in the FAC restored wild-type chemical profiles. The altered squalene to farnesyl pyrophosphate ratio leading to synthesis of nidulenes and aspernidines at the expense of farnesyl pyrophosphate-derived austinols provides unexpected insight into routes of terpene synthesis in fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sung Chul Park
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Breanne N. Steffan
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Fang Yun Lim
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Raveena Gupta
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | | | | | - Rosa Ye
- Intact Genomics Inc., St. Louis, MO, USA
| | | | | | - Neil L. Kelleher
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Jin Woo Bok
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Nancy P. Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
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Wu CC, Stierle AA, Stierle DB, Chen H, Swyers M, Decker T, Borkowski E, Korajczyk P, Ye R, Mondava N. Activation of cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters by fungal artificial chromosomes to produce novel secondary metabolites. AIMS Microbiol 2023; 9:757-779. [PMID: 38173972 PMCID: PMC10758572 DOI: 10.3934/microbiol.2023039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2023] [Revised: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
In 2017, we reported the discovery of Berkeleylactone A (BPLA), a novel, potent antibiotic produced exclusively in co-culture by two extremophilic fungi, Penicillium fuscum and P. camembertii/clavigerum, which were isolated from the Berkeley Pit, an acid mine waste lake, in Butte, Montana. Neither fungus synthesized BPLA when grown in axenic culture. Recent studies suggest that secondary metabolites (SMs) are often synthesized by enzymes encoded by co-localized genes that form "biosynthetic gene clusters" (BGCs), which might remain silent (inactive) under various fermentation conditions. Fungi may also harbor cryptic BGCs that are not associated with previously characterized molecules. We turned to the tools of Fungal Artificial Chromosomes (FAC)-Next-Gen-Sequencing (NGS) to understand how co-culture activated cryptic biosynthesis of BPLA and several related berkeleylactones and to further investigate the true biosynthetic potential of these two fungi. FAC-NGS enables the capture of BGCs as individual FACs for heterologous expression in a modified strain of Aspergillus nidulans (heterologous host, FAC-AnHH). With this methodology, we created ten BGC-FACs that yielded fourteen different SMs, including strobilurin, which was previously isolated exclusively from basidiomycetes. Eleven of these compounds were not detected in the extracts of the FAC-AnHH. Of this discrete set, only the novel compound citreohybriddional had been isolated from either Penicillium sp. before and only at very low yield. We propose that through heterologous expression, FACs activated these silent BGCs, resulting in the synthesis of new natural products (NPs) with yields as high as 50%-60% of the crude organic extracts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengcang C. Wu
- Intact Genomics, Inc. 1100 Corporate Square Drive, Suite 257, St Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Andrea A. Stierle
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 59812, USA
| | - Donald B. Stierle
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 59812, USA
| | - Hongyu Chen
- Intact Genomics, Inc. 1100 Corporate Square Drive, Suite 257, St Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Michael Swyers
- Intact Genomics, Inc. 1100 Corporate Square Drive, Suite 257, St Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Timothy Decker
- Intact Genomics, Inc. 1100 Corporate Square Drive, Suite 257, St Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Emili Borkowski
- Intact Genomics, Inc. 1100 Corporate Square Drive, Suite 257, St Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Peter Korajczyk
- Intact Genomics, Inc. 1100 Corporate Square Drive, Suite 257, St Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Rosa Ye
- Intact Genomics, Inc. 1100 Corporate Square Drive, Suite 257, St Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Niel Mondava
- Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana 59812, USA
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5
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Park SC, Steffan BN, Lim FY, Gupta R, Butun FA, Chen H, Ye R, Decker T, Wu CC, Kelleher NL, Bok JW, Keller NP. Terpenoid balance in Aspergillus nidulans unveiled by heterologous squalene synthase expression. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.20.563295. [PMID: 37905136 PMCID: PMC10614972 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.20.563295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
Filamentous fungi produce numerous uncharacterized natural products (NPs) that are often challenging to characterize due to cryptic expression in laboratory conditions. Previously, we have successfully isolated novel NPs by expressing fungal artificial chromosomes (FACs) from a variety of fungal species into Aspergillus nidulans. Here, we demonstrate a new twist to FAC utility wherein heterologous expression of a Pseudogymnoascus destructans FAC in A. nidulans altered endogenous terpene biosynthetic pathways. In contrast to wildtype, the FAC transformant produced increased levels of squalene and aspernidine type compounds, including three new nidulenes (1-2, 5), and lost nearly all ability to synthesize the major A. nidulans characteristic terpene, austinol. Deletion of a squalene synthase gene in the FAC restored wildtype chemical profiles. The altered squalene to farnesyl pyrophosphate ratio leading to synthesis of nidulenes and aspernidines at the expense of farnesyl pyrophosphate derived austinols provides unexpected insight into routes of terpene synthesis in fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sung Chul Park
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
| | - Breanne N. Steffan
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
| | - Fang Yun Lim
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle WA
| | - Raveena Gupta
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, IL
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Jin Woo Bok
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
| | - Nancy P. Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
- Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
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Caesar LK, Butun FA, Robey MT, Ayon NJ, Gupta R, Dainko D, Bok JW, Nickles G, Stankey RJ, Johnson D, Mead D, Cank KB, Earp CE, Raja HA, Oberlies NH, Keller NP, Kelleher NL. Correlative metabologenomics of 110 fungi reveals metabolite-gene cluster pairs. Nat Chem Biol 2023; 19:846-854. [PMID: 36879060 PMCID: PMC10313767 DOI: 10.1038/s41589-023-01276-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 03/08/2023]
Abstract
Natural products research increasingly applies -omics technologies to guide molecular discovery. While the combined analysis of genomic and metabolomic datasets has proved valuable for identifying natural products and their biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in bacteria, this integrated approach lacks application to fungi. Because fungi are hyper-diverse and underexplored for new chemistry and bioactivities, we created a linked genomics-metabolomics dataset for 110 Ascomycetes, and optimized both gene cluster family (GCF) networking parameters and correlation-based scoring for pairing fungal natural products with their BGCs. Using a network of 3,007 GCFs (organized from 7,020 BGCs), we examined 25 known natural products originating from 16 known BGCs and observed statistically significant associations between 21 of these compounds and their validated BGCs. Furthermore, the scalable platform identified the BGC for the pestalamides, demystifying its biogenesis, and revealed more than 200 high-scoring natural product-GCF linkages to direct future discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay K Caesar
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Fatma A Butun
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Matthew T Robey
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Navid J Ayon
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Raveena Gupta
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - David Dainko
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Jin Woo Bok
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Grant Nickles
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | | | | | | | - Kristof B Cank
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA
| | - Cody E Earp
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA
| | - Huzefa A Raja
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA
| | - Nicholas H Oberlies
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA
| | - Nancy P Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Neil L Kelleher
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
- Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
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Kirchgaessner L, Wurlitzer JM, Seibold PS, Rakhmanov M, Gressler M. A genetic tool to express long fungal biosynthetic genes. Fungal Biol Biotechnol 2023; 10:4. [PMID: 36726159 PMCID: PMC9893682 DOI: 10.1186/s40694-023-00152-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/22/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Secondary metabolites (SMs) from mushroom-forming fungi (Basidiomycota) and early diverging fungi (EDF) such as Mucoromycota are scarcely investigated. In many cases, production of SMs is induced by unknown stress factors or is accompanied by seasonable developmental changes on fungal morphology. Moreover, many of these fungi are considered as non-culturable under laboratory conditions which impedes investigation into SM. In the post-genomic era, numerous novel SM genes have been identified especially from EDF. As most of them encode multi-module enzymes, these genes are usually long which limits cloning and heterologous expression in traditional hosts. RESULTS An expression system in Aspergillus niger is presented that is suitable for the production of SMs from both Basidiomycota and EDF. The akuB gene was deleted in the expression host A. niger ATNT∆pyrG, resulting in a deficient nonhomologous end-joining repair mechanism which in turn facilitates the targeted gene deletion via homologous recombination. The ∆akuB mutant tLK01 served as a platform to integrate overlapping DNA fragments of long SM genes into the fwnA locus required for the black pigmentation of conidia. This enables an easy discrimination of correct transformants by screening the transformation plates for fawn-colored colonies. Expression of the gene of interest (GOI) is induced dose-dependently by addition of doxycycline and is enhanced by the dual TetON/terrein synthase promoter system (ATNT) from Aspergillus terreus. We show that the 8 kb polyketide synthase gene lpaA from the basidiomycete Laetiporus sulphureus is correctly assembled from five overlapping DNA fragments and laetiporic acids are produced. In a second approach, we expressed the yet uncharacterized > 20 kb nonribosomal peptide synthetase gene calA from the EDF Mortierella alpina. Gene expression and subsequent LC-MS/MS analysis of mycelial extracts revealed the production of the antimycobacterial compound calpinactam. This is the first report on the heterologous production of a full-length SM multidomain enzyme from EDF. CONCLUSIONS The system allows the assembly, targeted integration and expression of genes of > 20 kb size in A. niger in one single step. The system is suitable for evolutionary distantly related SM genes from both Basidiomycota and EDF. This uncovers new SM resources including genetically intractable or non-culturable fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leo Kirchgaessner
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.413047.50000 0001 0658 7859Faculty Medical Technology and Biotechnology, Ernst Abbe University of Applied Sciences Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Jacob M. Wurlitzer
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Paula S. Seibold
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Malik Rakhmanov
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Markus Gressler
- grid.9613.d0000 0001 1939 2794Institute of Pharmacy, Department Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany ,grid.418398.f0000 0001 0143 807XDepartment Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute, Winzerlaer Strasse 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
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Chiang CY, Ohashi M, Tang Y. Deciphering chemical logic of fungal natural product biosynthesis through heterologous expression and genome mining. Nat Prod Rep 2023; 40:89-127. [PMID: 36125308 PMCID: PMC9906657 DOI: 10.1039/d2np00050d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Covering: 2010 to 2022Heterologous expression of natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) has become a widely used tool for genome mining of cryptic pathways, bottom-up investigation of biosynthetic enzymes, and engineered biosynthesis of new natural product variants. In the field of fungal natural products, heterologous expression of a complete pathway was first demonstrated in the biosynthesis of tenellin in Aspergillus oryzae in 2010. Since then, advances in genome sequencing, DNA synthesis, synthetic biology, etc. have led to mining, assignment, and characterization of many fungal BGCs using various heterologous hosts. In this review, we will highlight key examples in the last decade in integrating heterologous expression into genome mining and biosynthetic investigations. The review will cover the choice of heterologous hosts, prioritization of BGCs for structural novelty, and how shunt products from heterologous expression can reveal important insights into the chemical logic of biosynthesis. The review is not meant to be exhaustive but is rather a collection of examples from researchers in the field, including ours, that demonstrates the usefulness and pitfalls of heterologous biosynthesis in fungal natural product discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen-Yu Chiang
- Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 5531 Boelter Hall, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Masao Ohashi
- Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 5531 Boelter Hall, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Yi Tang
- Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 5531 Boelter Hall, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
- Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 5531 Boelter Hall, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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9
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Woodcraft C, Chooi YH, Roux I. The expanding CRISPR toolbox for natural product discovery and engineering in filamentous fungi. Nat Prod Rep 2023; 40:158-173. [PMID: 36205232 DOI: 10.1039/d2np00055e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Covering: up to May 2022Fungal genetics has transformed natural product research by enabling the elucidation of cryptic metabolites and biosynthetic steps. The enhanced capability to add, subtract, modulate, and rewrite genes via CRISPR/Cas technologies has opened up avenues for the manipulation of biosynthetic gene clusters across diverse filamentous fungi. This review discusses the innovative and diverse strategies for fungal natural product discovery and engineering made possible by CRISPR/Cas-based tools. We also provide a guide into multiple angles of CRISPR/Cas experiment design, and discuss current gaps in genetic tool development for filamentous fungi and the promising opportunities for natural product research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara Woodcraft
- School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
| | - Yit-Heng Chooi
- School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
| | - Indra Roux
- School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
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10
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Deng H, Liang X, Liu J, Zheng X, Fan TP, Cai Y. Advances and perspectives on perylenequinone biosynthesis. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:1070110. [PMID: 36605511 PMCID: PMC9808054 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1070110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Under illumination, the fungal secondary metabolites, perylenequinones (PQs) react with molecular oxygen to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), which, in excess can damage cellular macromolecules and trigger apoptosis. Based on this property, PQs have been widely used as photosensitizers and applied in pharmaceuticals, which has stimulated research into the discovery of new PQs and the elucidation of their biosynthetic pathways. The PQs-associated literature covering from April 1967 to September 2022 is reviewed in three sections: (1) the sources, structural diversity, and biological activities of microbial PQs; (2) elucidation of PQ biosynthetic pathways, associated genes, and mechanisms of regulation; and (3) advances in pathway engineering and future potential strategies to modify cellular metabolism and improve PQ production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huaxiang Deng
- Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China,The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China,*Correspondence: Huaxiang Deng,
| | - Xinxin Liang
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
| | - Jinbin Liu
- School of Marine and Bioengineering, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng, Jiangsu, China
| | - Xiaohui Zheng
- College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shanxi, China
| | - Tai-Ping Fan
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Yujie Cai
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China,Yujie Cai,
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11
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Chiang YM, Lin TS, Wang CCC. Total Heterologous Biosynthesis of Fungal Natural Products in Aspergillus nidulans. JOURNAL OF NATURAL PRODUCTS 2022; 85:2484-2518. [PMID: 36173392 PMCID: PMC9621686 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.2c00487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Fungal natural products comprise a wide range of bioactive compounds including important drugs and agrochemicals. Intriguingly, bioinformatic analyses of fungal genomes have revealed that fungi have the potential to produce significantly more natural products than what have been discovered so far. It has thus become widely accepted that most biosynthesis pathways of fungal natural products are silent or expressed at very low levels under laboratory cultivation conditions. To tap into this vast chemical reservoir, the reconstitution of entire biosynthetic pathways in genetically tractable fungal hosts (total heterologous biosynthesis) has become increasingly employed in recent years. This review summarizes total heterologous biosynthesis of fungal natural products accomplished before 2020 using Aspergillus nidulans as heterologous hosts. We review here Aspergillus transformation, A. nidulans hosts, shuttle vectors for episomal expression, and chromosomal integration expression. These tools, collectively, not only facilitate the discovery of cryptic natural products but can also be used to generate high-yield strains with clean metabolite backgrounds. In comparison with total synthesis, total heterologous biosynthesis offers a simplified strategy to construct complex molecules and holds potential for commercial application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Ming Chiang
- Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
- Department of Pharmacy, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan 71710, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Shyang Lin
- Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
| | - Clay C C Wang
- Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
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12
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Jarczynska Z, Garcia Vanegas K, Deichmann M, Nørskov Jensen C, Scheeper MJ, Futyma ME, Strucko T, Jares Contesini F, Sparholt Jørgensen T, Blæsbjerg Hoof J, Hasbro Mortensen U. A Versatile in Vivo DNA Assembly Toolbox for Fungal Strain Engineering. ACS Synth Biol 2022; 11:3251-3263. [PMID: 36126183 PMCID: PMC9594312 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c00159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Efficient homologous recombination in baker's yeast allows accurate fusion of DNA fragments via short identical sequence tags in vivo. Eliminating the need for an Escherichia coli cloning step speeds up genetic engineering of this yeast and sets the stage for large high-throughput projects depending on DNA construction. With the aim of developing similar tools for filamentous fungi, we first set out to determine the genetic- and sequence-length requirements needed for efficient fusion reactions, and demonstrated that in nonhomologous end-joining deficient strains of Aspergillus nidulans, efficient fusions can be achieved by 25 bp sequence overlaps. Based on these results, we developed a novel fungal in vivo DNA assembly toolbox for simple and flexible genetic engineering of filamentous fungi. Specifically, we have used this method for construction of AMA1-based vectors, complex gene-targeting substrates for gene deletion and gene insertion, and for marker-free CRISPR based gene editing. All reactions were done via single-step transformations involving fusions of up to six different DNA fragments. Moreover, we show that it can be applied in four different species of Aspergilli. We therefore envision that in vivo DNA assembly can be advantageously used for many more purposes and will develop into a popular tool for fungal genetic engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zofia
Dorota Jarczynska
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Katherina Garcia Vanegas
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Marcus Deichmann
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Christina Nørskov Jensen
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Marouschka Jasmijn Scheeper
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Malgorzata Ewa Futyma
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Tomas Strucko
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Fabiano Jares Contesini
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Tue Sparholt Jørgensen
- The
Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Jakob Blæsbjerg Hoof
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Uffe Hasbro Mortensen
- Eukaryotic
Molecular Cell Biology, Section for Synthetic Biology, Department
of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark,
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13
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Schüller A, Studt-Reinhold L, Strauss J. How to Completely Squeeze a Fungus-Advanced Genome Mining Tools for Novel Bioactive Substances. Pharmaceutics 2022; 14:1837. [PMID: 36145585 PMCID: PMC9505985 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14091837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Revised: 08/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Fungal species have the capability of producing an overwhelming diversity of bioactive substances that can have beneficial but also detrimental effects on human health. These so-called secondary metabolites naturally serve as antimicrobial "weapon systems", signaling molecules or developmental effectors for fungi and hence are produced only under very specific environmental conditions or stages in their life cycle. However, as these complex conditions are difficult or even impossible to mimic in laboratory settings, only a small fraction of the true chemical diversity of fungi is known so far. This also implies that a large space for potentially new pharmaceuticals remains unexplored. We here present an overview on current developments in advanced methods that can be used to explore this chemical space. We focus on genetic and genomic methods, how to detect genes that harbor the blueprints for the production of these compounds (i.e., biosynthetic gene clusters, BGCs), and ways to activate these silent chromosomal regions. We provide an in-depth view of the chromatin-level regulation of BGCs and of the potential to use the CRISPR/Cas technology as an activation tool.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Joseph Strauss
- Institute of Microbial Genetics, Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, A-3430 Tulln/Donau, Austria
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14
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Rivera-Chávez J, Ceapă CD, Figueroa M. Biological Dark Matter Exploration using Data Mining for the Discovery of Antimicrobial Natural Products. PLANTA MEDICA 2022; 88:702-720. [PMID: 35697058 DOI: 10.1055/a-1795-0562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The discovery of novel antimicrobials has significantly slowed down over the last three decades. At the same time, humans rely increasingly on antimicrobials because of the progressive antimicrobial resistance in medical practices, human communities, and the environment. Data mining is currently considered a promising option in the discovery of new antibiotics. Some of the advantages of data mining are the ability to predict chemical structures from sequence data, anticipation of the presence of novel metabolites, the understanding of gene evolution, and the corroboration of data from multiple omics technologies. This review analyzes the state-of-the-art for data mining in the fields of bacteria, fungi, and plant genomic data, as well as metabologenomics. It also summarizes some of the most recent research accomplishments in the field, all pinpointing to innovation through uncovering and implementing the next generation of antimicrobials.
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Affiliation(s)
- José Rivera-Chávez
- Instituto de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Corina-Diana Ceapă
- Instituto de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Mario Figueroa
- Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
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15
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Mózsik L, Iacovelli R, Bovenberg RAL, Driessen AJM. Transcriptional Activation of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters in Filamentous Fungi. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:901037. [PMID: 35910033 PMCID: PMC9335490 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.901037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Filamentous fungi are highly productive cell factories, many of which are industrial producers of enzymes, organic acids, and secondary metabolites. The increasing number of sequenced fungal genomes revealed a vast and unexplored biosynthetic potential in the form of transcriptionally silent secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). Various strategies have been carried out to explore and mine this untapped source of bioactive molecules, and with the advent of synthetic biology, novel applications, and tools have been developed for filamentous fungi. Here we summarize approaches aiming for the expression of endogenous or exogenous natural product BGCs, including synthetic transcription factors, assembly of artificial transcription units, gene cluster refactoring, fungal shuttle vectors, and platform strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- László Mózsik
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Riccardo Iacovelli
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Roel A. L. Bovenberg
- DSM Biotechnology Center, Delft, Netherlands
- Department of Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Arnold J. M. Driessen
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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16
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Fierro F, Vaca I, Castillo NI, García-Rico RO, Chávez R. Penicillium chrysogenum, a Vintage Model with a Cutting-Edge Profile in Biotechnology. Microorganisms 2022; 10:573. [PMID: 35336148 PMCID: PMC8954384 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10030573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2021] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The discovery of penicillin entailed a decisive breakthrough in medicine. No other medical advance has ever had the same impact in the clinical practise. The fungus Penicillium chrysogenum (reclassified as P. rubens) has been used for industrial production of penicillin ever since the forties of the past century; industrial biotechnology developed hand in hand with it, and currently P. chrysogenum is a thoroughly studied model for secondary metabolite production and regulation. In addition to its role as penicillin producer, recent synthetic biology advances have put P. chrysogenum on the path to become a cell factory for the production of metabolites with biotechnological interest. In this review, we tell the history of P. chrysogenum, from the discovery of penicillin and the first isolation of strains with high production capacity to the most recent research advances with the fungus. We will describe how classical strain improvement programs achieved the goal of increasing production and how the development of different molecular tools allowed further improvements. The discovery of the penicillin gene cluster, the origin of the penicillin genes, the regulation of penicillin production, and a compilation of other P. chrysogenum secondary metabolites will also be covered and updated in this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco Fierro
- Departamento de Biotecnología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Unidad Iztapalapa, Ciudad de México 09340, Mexico
| | - Inmaculada Vaca
- Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 7800003, Chile;
| | - Nancy I. Castillo
- Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas y Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá 110231, Colombia;
| | - Ramón Ovidio García-Rico
- Grupo de Investigación GIMBIO, Departamento De Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad de Pamplona, Pamplona 543050, Colombia;
| | - Renato Chávez
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Química y Biología, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago 9170020, Chile;
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17
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Caesar LK, Montaser R, Keller NP, Kelleher NL. Metabolomics and genomics in natural products research: complementary tools for targeting new chemical entities. Nat Prod Rep 2021; 38:2041-2065. [PMID: 34787623 PMCID: PMC8691422 DOI: 10.1039/d1np00036e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Covering: 2010 to 2021Organisms in nature have evolved into proficient synthetic chemists, utilizing specialized enzymatic machinery to biosynthesize an inspiring diversity of secondary metabolites. Often serving to boost competitive advantage for their producers, these secondary metabolites have widespread human impacts as antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and antifungal drugs. The natural products discovery field has begun a shift away from traditional activity-guided approaches and is beginning to take advantage of increasingly available metabolomics and genomics datasets to explore undiscovered chemical space. Major strides have been made and now enable -omics-informed prioritization of chemical structures for discovery, including the prospect of confidently linking metabolites to their biosynthetic pathways. Over the last decade, more integrated strategies now provide researchers with pipelines for simultaneous identification of expressed secondary metabolites and their biosynthetic machinery. However, continuous collaboration by the natural products community will be required to optimize strategies for effective evaluation of natural product biosynthetic gene clusters to accelerate discovery efforts. Here, we provide an evaluative guide to scientific literature as it relates to studying natural product biosynthesis using genomics, metabolomics, and their integrated datasets. Particular emphasis is placed on the unique insights that can be gained from large-scale integrated strategies, and we provide source organism-specific considerations to evaluate the gaps in our current knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay K Caesar
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
| | - Rana Montaser
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
| | - Nancy P Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Neil L Kelleher
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
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18
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Synthetic Biology Advanced Natural Product Discovery. Metabolites 2021; 11:metabo11110785. [PMID: 34822443 PMCID: PMC8617713 DOI: 10.3390/metabo11110785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
A wide variety of bacteria, fungi and plants can produce bioactive secondary metabolites, which are often referred to as natural products. With the rapid development of DNA sequencing technology and bioinformatics, a large number of putative biosynthetic gene clusters have been reported. However, only a limited number of natural products have been discovered, as most biosynthetic gene clusters are not expressed or are expressed at extremely low levels under conventional laboratory conditions. With the rapid development of synthetic biology, advanced genome mining and engineering strategies have been reported and they provide new opportunities for discovery of natural products. This review discusses advances in recent years that can accelerate the design, build, test, and learn (DBTL) cycle of natural product discovery, and prospects trends and key challenges for future research directions.
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19
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Meng X, Fang Y, Ding M, Zhang Y, Jia K, Li Z, Collemare J, Liu W. Developing fungal heterologous expression platforms to explore and improve the production of natural products from fungal biodiversity. Biotechnol Adv 2021; 54:107866. [PMID: 34780934 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2021.107866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2021] [Revised: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Natural products from fungi represent an important source of biologically active metabolites notably for therapeutic agent development. Genome sequencing revealed that the number of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in fungi is much larger than expected. Unfortunately, most of them are silent or barely expressed under laboratory culture conditions. Moreover, many fungi in nature are uncultivable or cannot be genetically manipulated, restricting the extraction and identification of bioactive metabolites from these species. Rapid exploration of the tremendous number of cryptic fungal BGCs necessitates the development of heterologous expression platforms, which will facilitate the efficient production of natural products in fungal cell factories. Host selection, BGC assembly methods, promoters used for heterologous gene expression, metabolic engineering strategies and compartmentalization of biosynthetic pathways are key aspects for consideration to develop such a microbial platform. In the present review, we summarize current progress on the above challenges to promote research effort in the relevant fields.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangfeng Meng
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Yu Fang
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Mingyang Ding
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Yanyu Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Kaili Jia
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Zhongye Li
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China
| | - Jérôme Collemare
- Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, the Netherlands.
| | - Weifeng Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Microbial Technology Institute, Shandong University, No. 72 Binhai Road, Qingdao 266237, PR China.
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20
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Wang W, Zheng G, Lu Y. Recent Advances in Strategies for the Cloning of Natural Product Biosynthetic Gene Clusters. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2021; 9:692797. [PMID: 34327194 PMCID: PMC8314000 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.692797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Microbial natural products (NPs) are a major source of pharmacological agents. Most NPs are synthesized from specific biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). With the rapid increase of sequenced microbial genomes, large numbers of NP BGCs have been discovered, regarded as a treasure trove of novel bioactive compounds. However, many NP BGCs are silent in native hosts under laboratory conditions. In order to explore their therapeutic potential, a main route is to activate these silent NP BGCs in heterologous hosts. To this end, the first step is to accurately and efficiently capture these BGCs. In the past decades, a large number of effective technologies for cloning NP BGCs have been established, which has greatly promoted drug discovery research. Herein, we describe recent advances in strategies for BGC cloning, with a focus on the preparation of high-molecular-weight DNA fragment, selection and optimization of vectors used for carrying large-size DNA, and methods for assembling targeted DNA fragment and appropriate vector. The future direction into novel, universal, and high-efficiency methods for cloning NP BGCs is also prospected.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenfang Wang
- College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Guosong Zheng
- College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yinhua Lu
- College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Plant Germplasm Resources, College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China
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21
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Adrover-Castellano ML, Schmidt JJ, Sherman DH. Biosynthetic Cyclization Catalysts for the Assembly of Peptide and Polyketide Natural Products. ChemCatChem 2021; 13:2095-2116. [PMID: 34335987 PMCID: PMC8320681 DOI: 10.1002/cctc.202001886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Many biologically active natural products are synthesized by nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs), polyketide synthases (PKSs) and their hybrids. These megasynthetases contain modules possessing distinct catalytic domains that allow for substrate initiation, chain extension, processing and termination. At the end of a module, a terminal domain, usually a thioesterase (TE), is responsible for catalyzing the release of the NRPS or PKS as a linear or cyclized product. In this review, we address the general cyclization mechanism of the TE domain, including oligomerization and the fungal C-C bond forming Claisen-like cyclases (CLCs). Additionally, we include examples of cyclization catalysts acting within or at the end of a module. Furthermore, condensation-like (CT) domains, terminal reductase (R) domains, reductase-like domains that catalyze Dieckmann condensation (RD), thioesterase-like Dieckmann cyclases, trans-acting TEs from the penicillin binding protein (PBP) enzyme family, product template (PT) domains and others will also be reviewed. The studies summarized here highlight the remarkable diversity of NRPS and PKS cyclization catalysts for the production of biologically relevant, complex cyclic natural products and related compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jennifer J Schmidt
- Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, 210 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2216 (USA)
| | - David H Sherman
- Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, 210 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2216 (USA)
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22
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Sagita R, Quax WJ, Haslinger K. Current State and Future Directions of Genetics and Genomics of Endophytic Fungi for Bioprospecting Efforts. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2021; 9:649906. [PMID: 33791289 PMCID: PMC8005728 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.649906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The bioprospecting of secondary metabolites from endophytic fungi received great attention in the 1990s and 2000s, when the controversy around taxol production from Taxus spp. endophytes was at its height. Since then, hundreds of reports have described the isolation and characterization of putative secondary metabolites from endophytic fungi. However, only very few studies also report the genetic basis for these phenotypic observations. With low sequencing cost and fast sample turnaround, genetics- and genomics-based approaches have risen to become comprehensive approaches to study natural products from a wide-range of organisms, especially to elucidate underlying biosynthetic pathways. However, in the field of fungal endophyte biology, elucidation of biosynthetic pathways is still a major challenge. As a relatively poorly investigated group of microorganisms, even in the light of recent efforts to sequence more fungal genomes, such as the 1000 Fungal Genomes Project at the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), the basis for bioprospecting of enzymes and pathways from endophytic fungi is still rather slim. In this review we want to discuss the current approaches and tools used to associate phenotype and genotype to elucidate biosynthetic pathways of secondary metabolites in endophytic fungi through the lens of bioprospecting. This review will point out the reported successes and shortcomings, and discuss future directions in sampling, and genetics and genomics of endophytic fungi. Identifying responsible biosynthetic genes for the numerous secondary metabolites isolated from endophytic fungi opens the opportunity to explore the genetic potential of producer strains to discover novel secondary metabolites and enhance secondary metabolite production by metabolic engineering resulting in novel and more affordable medicines and food additives.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Kristina Haslinger
- Groningen Institute of Pharmacy, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Biology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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23
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Atanasov AG, Zotchev SB, Dirsch VM, Supuran CT. Natural products in drug discovery: advances and opportunities. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2021; 20:200-216. [PMID: 33510482 PMCID: PMC7841765 DOI: 10.1038/s41573-020-00114-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1879] [Impact Index Per Article: 626.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/12/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Natural products and their structural analogues have historically made a major contribution to pharmacotherapy, especially for cancer and infectious diseases. Nevertheless, natural products also present challenges for drug discovery, such as technical barriers to screening, isolation, characterization and optimization, which contributed to a decline in their pursuit by the pharmaceutical industry from the 1990s onwards. In recent years, several technological and scientific developments - including improved analytical tools, genome mining and engineering strategies, and microbial culturing advances - are addressing such challenges and opening up new opportunities. Consequently, interest in natural products as drug leads is being revitalized, particularly for tackling antimicrobial resistance. Here, we summarize recent technological developments that are enabling natural product-based drug discovery, highlight selected applications and discuss key opportunities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atanas G Atanasov
- Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Poland.
- Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
- Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.
- Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Digital Health and Patient Safety, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Sergey B Zotchev
- Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Verena M Dirsch
- Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Claudiu T Supuran
- Università degli Studi di Firenze, NEUROFARBA Dept, Sezione di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Florence, Italy.
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24
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Xu X, Feng J, Zhang P, Fan J, Yin WB. A CRISPR/Cas9 Cleavage System for Capturing Fungal Secondary Metabolite Gene Clusters. J Microbiol Biotechnol 2021; 31:8-15. [PMID: 33144546 PMCID: PMC9705949 DOI: 10.4014/jmb.2008.08040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2020] [Revised: 10/22/2020] [Accepted: 10/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
More and more available fungal genome sequence data reveal a large amount of secondary metabolite (SM) biosynthetic 'dark matter' to be discovered. Heterogeneous expression is one of the most effective approaches to exploit these novel natural products, but it is limited by having to clone entire biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) without errors. So far, few effective technologies have been developed to manipulate the specific large DNA fragments in filamentous fungi. Here, we developed a fungal BGC-capturing system based on CRISPR/Cas9 cleavage in vitro. In our system, Cas9 protein was purified and CRISPR guide sequences in combination with in vivo yeast assembly were rationally designed. Using targeted cleavages of plasmid DNAs with linear (8.5 kb) or circular (8.5 kb and 28 kb) states, we were able to cleave the plasmids precisely, demonstrating the high efficiency of this system. Furthermore, we successfully captured the entire Nrc gene cluster from the genomic DNA of Neosartorya fischeri. Our results provide an easy and efficient approach to manipulate fungal genomic DNA based on the in vitro application of Cas9 endonuclease. Our methodology will lay a foundation for capturing entire groups of BGCs in filamentous fungi and accelerate fungal SMs mining.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinran Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology and CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 000, P.R. China,Savaid Medical School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P.R. China
| | - Jin Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology and CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 000, P.R. China
| | - Peng Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology and CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 000, P.R. China
| | - Jie Fan
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology and CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 000, P.R. China
| | - Wen-Bing Yin
- State Key Laboratory of Mycology and CAS Key Laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 000, P.R. China,Savaid Medical School, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P.R. China,Corresponding author Phone: +86-10-64806170 E-mail:
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25
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Liu Z, Lin Z, Nielsen J. Expression of fungal biosynthetic gene clusters in S. cerevisiae for natural product discovery. Synth Syst Biotechnol 2021; 6:20-22. [PMID: 33553706 PMCID: PMC7840462 DOI: 10.1016/j.synbio.2021.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2020] [Revised: 12/13/2020] [Accepted: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Fungi are well known for production of antibiotics and other bioactive secondary metabolites, that can be served as pharmaceuticals, therapeutic agents and industrially useful compounds. However, compared with the characterization of prokaryotic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), less attention has been paid to evaluate fungal BGCs. This is partially because heterologous expression of eukaryotic gene constructs often requires replacement of original promoters and terminators, as well as removal of intron sequences, and this substantially slow down the workflow in natural product discovery. It is therefore of interest to investigate the possibility and effectiveness of heterologous expression and library screening of intact BGCs without refactoring in industrial friendly microbial cell factories, such as the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here, we discuss the importance of developing new research directions on library screening of fungal BGCs in yeast without refactoring, followed by outlooking prominent opportunities and challenges for future advancement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zihe Liu
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, 100029, Beijing, China
| | - Zhenquan Lin
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, 100029, Beijing, China
| | - Jens Nielsen
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, 100029, Beijing, China
- Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, SE412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, DK2800, Lyngby, Denmark
- BioInnovation Institute, Ole Maaløes Vej 3, DK2200, Copenhagen N, Denmark
- Corresponding author. College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, 100029, Beijing, China.
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26
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Chiang YM, Lin TS, Chang SL, Ahn G, Wang CCC. An Aspergillus nidulans Platform for the Complete Cluster Refactoring and Total Biosynthesis of Fungal Natural Products. ACS Synth Biol 2021; 10:173-182. [PMID: 33375785 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Fungal natural products (NPs) comprise a vast number of bioactive molecules with diverse activities, and among them are many important drugs. However, the yields of fungal NPs from native producers are usually low, and total synthesis of structurally complex NPs is challenging. As such, downstream derivatization and optimization of lead fungal NPs can be impeded by the high cost of obtaining sufficient starting material. In recent years, reconstitution of NP biosynthetic pathways in heterologous hosts has become an attractive alternative approach to produce complex NPs. Here, we present an efficient, cloning-free strategy for the cluster refactoring and total biosynthesis of fungal NPs in Aspergillus nidulans. Our platform places our genes of interest (GOIs) under the regulation of the robust asperfuranone afo biosynthesis gene machinery, allowing for their concerted activation upon induction. We demonstrated the utility of our system by creating strains that can synthesize high-value NPs, citreoviridin (1), mutilin (2), and pleuromutilin (3), with good to high yield and purity. This platform can be used not only for producing NPs of interests (i.e., total biosynthesis) but also for elucidating cryptic biosynthesis pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Ming Chiang
- Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
- Department of Pharmacy, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan 71710, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Tzu-Shyang Lin
- Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
| | - Shu-Lin Chang
- Department of Cosmetic Science, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan 71710, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Green Ahn
- Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
| | - Clay C C Wang
- Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
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27
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Bioinformatics Applications in Fungal Siderophores: Omics Implications. Fungal Biol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-53077-8_10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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28
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Schüller A, Wolansky L, Berger H, Studt L, Gacek-Matthews A, Sulyok M, Strauss J. A novel fungal gene regulation system based on inducible VPR-dCas9 and nucleosome map-guided sgRNA positioning. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2020; 104:9801-9822. [PMID: 33006690 PMCID: PMC7595996 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-020-10900-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Revised: 08/31/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Programmable transcriptional regulation is a powerful tool to study gene functions. Current methods to selectively regulate target genes are mainly based on promoter exchange or on overexpressing transcriptional activators. To expand the discovery toolbox, we designed a dCas9-based RNA-guided synthetic transcription activation system for Aspergillus nidulans that uses enzymatically disabled "dead" Cas9 fused to three consecutive activation domains (VPR-dCas9). The dCas9-encoding gene is under the control of an estrogen-responsive promoter to allow induction timing and to avoid possible negative effects by strong constitutive expression of the highly active VPR domains. Especially in silent genomic regions, facultative heterochromatin and strictly positioned nucleosomes can constitute a relevant obstacle to the transcriptional machinery. To avoid this negative impact and to facilitate optimal positioning of RNA-guided VPR-dCas9 to targeted promoters, we have created a genome-wide nucleosome map from actively growing cells and stationary cultures to identify the cognate nucleosome-free regions (NFRs). Based on these maps, different single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) were designed and tested for their targeting and activation potential. Our results demonstrate that the system can be used to regulate several genes in parallel and, depending on the VPR-dCas9 positioning, expression can be pushed to very high levels. We have used the system to turn on individual genes within two different biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) which are silent under normal growth conditions. This method also opens opportunities to stepwise activate individual genes in a cluster to decipher the correlated biosynthetic pathway. Graphical abstract KEYPOINTS: • An inducible RNA-guided transcriptional regulator based on VPR-dCas9 was established in Aspergillus nidulans. • Genome-wide nucleosome positioning maps were created that facilitate sgRNA positioning. • The system was successfully applied to activate genes within two silent biosynthetic gene clusters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Schüller
- Fungal Genetics Lab, Institute of Microbial Genetics, Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, BOKU-Campus Tulln, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 24, A-3430, Tulln an der Donau, Austria
| | - Lisa Wolansky
- Institute Krems Bioanalytics , IMC FH Krems University of Applied Sciences , Krems, Austria
| | - Harald Berger
- Fungal Genetics Lab, Institute of Microbial Genetics, Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, BOKU-Campus Tulln, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 24, A-3430, Tulln an der Donau, Austria
| | - Lena Studt
- Fungal Genetics Lab, Institute of Microbial Genetics, Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, BOKU-Campus Tulln, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 24, A-3430, Tulln an der Donau, Austria
| | - Agnieszka Gacek-Matthews
- Fungal Genetics Lab, Institute of Microbial Genetics, Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, BOKU-Campus Tulln, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 24, A-3430, Tulln an der Donau, Austria
- Institute of Microbiology, Functional Microbiology Division, University of Veterinary Sciences Vienna, Wien, Austria
| | - Michael Sulyok
- Institute of Bioanalytics and Agrometabolomics, Department of Agrobiotechnology, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, BOKU-Campus Tulln, Konrad-Lorenz-Straße 20, A-3430 Tulln an der Donau, Austria
| | - Joseph Strauss
- Fungal Genetics Lab, Institute of Microbial Genetics, Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, BOKU-Campus Tulln, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 24, A-3430, Tulln an der Donau, Austria.
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29
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Caesar LK, Kelleher NL, Keller NP. In the fungus where it happens: History and future propelling Aspergillus nidulans as the archetype of natural products research. Fungal Genet Biol 2020; 144:103477. [PMID: 33035657 DOI: 10.1016/j.fgb.2020.103477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Revised: 09/21/2020] [Accepted: 09/30/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
In 1990 the first fungal secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene was cloned in Aspergillus nidulans. Thirty years later, >30 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) have been linked to specific natural products in this one fungal species. While impressive, over half of the BGCs in A. nidulans remain uncharacterized and their compounds structurally and functionally unknown. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of past advances that have enabled A. nidulans to rise to its current status as a natural product powerhouse focusing on the discovery and annotation of secondary metabolite clusters. From genome sequencing, heterologous expression, and metabolomics to CRISPR and epigenetic manipulations, we present a guided tour through the evolution of technologies developed and utilized in the last 30 years. These insights provide perspective to future efforts to fully unlock the biosynthetic potential of A. nidulans and, by extension, the potential of other filamentous fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay K Caesar
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
| | - Neil L Kelleher
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States; Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States; Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
| | - Nancy P Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
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30
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Heterologous Expression of the Unusual Terreazepine Biosynthetic Gene Cluster Reveals a Promising Approach for Identifying New Chemical Scaffolds. mBio 2020; 11:mBio.01691-20. [PMID: 32843555 PMCID: PMC7448278 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01691-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Advances in genome sequencing have revitalized natural product discovery efforts, revealing the untapped biosynthetic potential of fungi. While the volume of genomic data continues to expand, discovery efforts are slowed due to the time-consuming nature of experiments required to characterize new molecules. To direct efforts toward uncharacterized biosynthetic gene clusters most likely to encode novel chemical scaffolds, we took advantage of comparative metabolomics and heterologous gene expression using fungal artificial chromosomes (FACs). By linking mass spectral profiles with structural clues provided by FAC-encoded gene clusters, we targeted a compound originating from an unusual gene cluster containing an indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO). With this approach, we isolate and characterize R and S forms of the new molecule terreazepine, which contains a novel chemical scaffold resulting from cyclization of the IDO-supplied kynurenine. The discovery of terreazepine illustrates that FAC-based approaches targeting unusual biosynthetic machinery provide a promising avenue forward for targeted discovery of novel scaffolds and their biosynthetic enzymes, and it also represents another example of a biosynthetic gene cluster "repurposing" a primary metabolic enzyme to diversify its secondary metabolite arsenal.IMPORTANCE Here, we provide evidence that Aspergillus terreus encodes a biosynthetic gene cluster containing a repurposed indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) dedicated to secondary metabolite synthesis. The discovery of this neofunctionalized IDO not only enabled discovery of a new compound with an unusual chemical scaffold but also provided insight into the numerous strategies fungi employ for diversifying and protecting themselves against secondary metabolites. The observations in this study set the stage for further in-depth studies into the function of duplicated IDOs present in fungal biosynthetic gene clusters and presents a strategy for accessing the biosynthetic potential of gene clusters containing duplicated primary metabolic genes.
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31
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Lin Z, Nielsen J, Liu Z. Bioprospecting Through Cloning of Whole Natural Product Biosynthetic Gene Clusters. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2020; 8:526. [PMID: 32582659 PMCID: PMC7290108 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Since the discovery of penicillin, natural products and their derivatives have been a valuable resource for drug discovery. With recent development of genome mining approaches in the post-genome era, a great number of natural product biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) have been identified and these can potentially be exploited for the discovery of novel natural products that can find application as pharmaceuticals. Since many BGCs are silent or do not express in native hosts under laboratory conditions, heterologous expression of BGCs in genetically tractable hosts becomes an attractive route to activate these BGCs to discover the corresponding products. Here, we highlight recent achievements in cloning and discovery of natural product biosynthetic pathways via intact BGC capturing, and discuss the prospects of high-throughput and multiplexed cloning of rational-designed gene clusters in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenquan Lin
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Jens Nielsen
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.,Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.,Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark.,BioInnovation Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Zihe Liu
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
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32
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Pohl C, Polli F, Schütze T, Viggiano A, Mózsik L, Jung S, de Vries M, Bovenberg RAL, Meyer V, Driessen AJM. A Penicillium rubens platform strain for secondary metabolite production. Sci Rep 2020; 10:7630. [PMID: 32376967 PMCID: PMC7203126 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64893-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Accepted: 04/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a Penicillium rubens strain with an industrial background in which the four highly expressed biosynthetic gene clusters (BGC) required to produce penicillin, roquefortine, chrysogine and fungisporin were removed. This resulted in a minimal secondary metabolite background. Amino acid pools under steady-state growth conditions showed reduced levels of methionine and increased intracellular aromatic amino acids. Expression profiling of remaining BGC core genes and untargeted mass spectrometry did not identify products from uncharacterized BGCs. This platform strain was repurposed for expression of the recently identified polyketide calbistrin gene cluster and achieved high yields of decumbenone A, B and C. The penicillin BGC could be restored through in vivo assembly with eight DNA segments with short overlaps. Our study paves the way for fast combinatorial assembly and expression of biosynthetic pathways in a fungal strain with low endogenous secondary metabolite burden.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carsten Pohl
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Technische Universität Berlin, Faculty III Process Sciences, Institute of Biotechnology, Chair of Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Berlin, Germany
| | - Fabiola Polli
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Tabea Schütze
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Annarita Viggiano
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - László Mózsik
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Sascha Jung
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Maaike de Vries
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Roel A L Bovenberg
- DSM Biotechnology Centre, Delft, The Netherlands
- Synthetic Biology and Cell Engineering, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Vera Meyer
- Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Arnold J M Driessen
- Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
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33
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Drott MT, Bastos RW, Rokas A, Ries LNA, Gabaldón T, Goldman GH, Keller NP, Greco C. Diversity of Secondary Metabolism in Aspergillus nidulans Clinical Isolates. mSphere 2020; 5:e00156-20. [PMID: 32269157 PMCID: PMC7142299 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00156-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans has been a primary workhorse used to understand fungal genetics. Much of this work has focused on elucidating the genetics of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and the secondary metabolites (SMs) they produce. SMs are both niche defining in fungi and of great economic importance to humans. Despite the focus on A. nidulans, very little is known about the natural diversity in secondary metabolism within this species. We determined the BGC content and looked for evolutionary patterns in BGCs from whole-genome sequences of two clinical isolates and the A4 reference genome of A. nidulans Differences in BGC content were used to explain SM profiles determined using liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. We found that in addition to genetic variation of BGCs contained by all isolates, nine BGCs varied by presence/absence. We discovered the viridicatumtoxin BGC in A. nidulans and suggest that this BGC has undergone a horizontal gene transfer from the Aspergillus section Nigri lineage into Penicillium sometime after the sections Nigri and Nidulantes diverged. We identified the production of viridicatumtoxin and several other compounds previously not known to be produced by A. nidulans One isolate showed a lack of sterigmatocystin production even though it contained an apparently intact sterigmatocystin BGC, raising questions about other genes and processes known to regulate this BGC. Altogether, our work uncovers a large degree of intraspecies diversity in BGC and SM production in this genetic model species and offers new avenues to understand the evolution and regulation of secondary metabolism.IMPORTANCE Much of what we know about the genetics underlying secondary metabolite (SM) production and the function of SMs in the model fungus Aspergillus nidulans comes from a single reference genome. A growing body of research indicates the importance of biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) and SM diversity within a species. However, there is no information about the natural diversity of secondary metabolism in A. nidulans We discovered six novel clusters that contribute to the considerable variation in both BGC content and SM production within A. nidulans We characterize a diverse set of mutations and emphasize how findings of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), deletions, and differences in evolutionary history encompass much of the variation observed in nonmodel systems. Our results emphasize that A. nidulans may also be a strong model to use within-species diversity to elucidate regulatory cross talk, fungal ecology, and drug discovery systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- M T Drott
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - R W Bastos
- Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - A Rokas
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - L N A Ries
- Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - T Gabaldón
- Life Sciences Program, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, Barcelona, Spain
- Mechanisms of Disease Program, Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona, Spain
- ICREA, Barcelona, Spain
| | - G H Goldman
- Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - N P Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - C Greco
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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34
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Deng H, Bai Y, Fan TP, Zheng X, Cai Y. Advanced strategy for metabolite exploration in filamentous fungi. Crit Rev Biotechnol 2020; 40:180-198. [PMID: 31906740 DOI: 10.1080/07388551.2019.1709798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Filamentous fungi comprise an abundance of gene clusters that encode high-value metabolites, whereas affluent gene clusters remain silent during laboratory conditions. Complex cellular metabolism further limits these metabolite yields. Therefore, diverse strategies such as genetic engineering and chemical mutagenesis have been developed to activate these cryptic pathways and improve metabolite productivity. However, lower efficiencies of gene modifications and screen tools delayed the above processes. To address the above issues, this review describes an alternative design-construction evaluation optimization (DCEO) approach. The DCEO tool provides theoretical and practical principles to identify potential pathways, modify endogenous pathways, integrate exogenous pathways, and exploit novel pathways for their diverse metabolites and desirable productivities. This DCEO method also offers different tactics to balance the cellular metabolisms, facilitate the genetic engineering, and exploit the scalable metabolites in filamentous fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huaxiang Deng
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China.,Center for Synthetic Biochemistry, Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technologies, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yajun Bai
- College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shanxi, China
| | - Tai-Ping Fan
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Xiaohui Zheng
- College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shanxi, China
| | - Yujie Cai
- The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
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35
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Greco C, Keller NP, Rokas A. Unearthing fungal chemodiversity and prospects for drug discovery. Curr Opin Microbiol 2019; 51:22-29. [PMID: 31071615 PMCID: PMC6832774 DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2019.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2018] [Revised: 02/19/2019] [Accepted: 03/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Natural products have drastically improved our lives by providing an excellent source of molecules to fight cancer, pathogens, and cardiovascular diseases that have revolutionized medicine. Fungi are prolific producers of diverse natural products and several recent advances in synthetic biology, genetics, bioinformatics, and natural product chemistry have greatly enhanced our ability to efficiently mine their genomes for the discovery of novel drugs. In this article, we provide an overview of improved heterologous expression platforms for targeted production of fungal secondary metabolites, of advances in chemical and bioinformatics dereplication, and of novel bioinformatic platforms to discover biosynthetic genes involved in the production of metabolites with specific bioactivities. These advances, coupled with the presence of vast numbers of biosynthetic gene clusters in fungal genomes whose natural products remain unknown, have revitalized efforts to mine the fungal treasure chest and renewed the promise of discovering new drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudio Greco
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Nancy P Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
| | - Antonis Rokas
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
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36
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Vassaux A, Meunier L, Vandenbol M, Baurain D, Fickers P, Jacques P, Leclère V. Nonribosomal peptides in fungal cell factories: from genome mining to optimized heterologous production. Biotechnol Adv 2019; 37:107449. [PMID: 31518630 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2019.107449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2019] [Revised: 09/06/2019] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Fungi are notoriously prolific producers of secondary metabolites including nonribosomal peptides (NRPs). The structural complexity of NRPs grants them interesting activities such as antibiotic, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory properties. The discovery of these compounds with attractive activities can be achieved by using two approaches: either by screening samples originating from various environments for their biological activities, or by identifying the related clusters in genomic sequences thanks to bioinformatics tools. This genome mining approach has grown tremendously due to recent advances in genome sequencing, which have provided an incredible amount of genomic data from hundreds of microbial species. Regarding fungal organisms, the genomic data have revealed the presence of an unexpected number of putative NRP-related gene clusters. This highlights fungi as a goldmine for the discovery of putative novel bioactive compounds. Recent development of NRP dedicated bioinformatics tools have increased the capacity to identify these gene clusters and to deduce NRPs structures, speeding-up the screening process for novel metabolites discovery. Unfortunately, the newly identified compound is frequently not or poorly produced by native producers due to a lack of expression of the related genes cluster. A frequently employed strategy to increase production rates consists in transferring the related biosynthetic pathway in heterologous hosts. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview about the topic of NRPs discovery, from gene cluster identification by genome mining to the heterologous production in fungal hosts. The main computational tools and methods for genome mining are herein presented with an emphasis on the particularities of the fungal systems. The different steps of the reconstitution of NRP biosynthetic pathway in heterologous fungal cell factories will be discussed, as well as the key factors to consider for maximizing productivity. Several examples will be developed to illustrate the potential of heterologous production to both discover uncharacterized novel compounds predicted in silico by genome mining, and to enhance the productivity of interesting bio-active natural products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Vassaux
- TERRA Teaching and Research Centre, Microbial Processes and Interactions, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege, Avenue de la Faculté d'Agronomie, B5030 Gembloux, Belgium; Univ. Lille, INRA, ISA, Univ. Artois, Univ. Littoral Côte d'Opale, EA 7394-ICV-Institut Charles Viollette, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Loïc Meunier
- TERRA Teaching and Research Centre, Microbial Processes and Interactions, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege, Avenue de la Faculté d'Agronomie, B5030 Gembloux, Belgium; InBioS-PhytoSYSTEMS, Eukaryotic Phylogenomics, University of Liege, Boulevard du Rectorat 27, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Micheline Vandenbol
- TERRA Teaching and Research Centre, Microbiologie et Génomique, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege, Avenue de la Faculté d'Agronomie, B5030 Gembloux, Belgium
| | - Denis Baurain
- InBioS-PhytoSYSTEMS, Eukaryotic Phylogenomics, University of Liege, Boulevard du Rectorat 27, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Patrick Fickers
- TERRA Teaching and Research Centre, Microbial Processes and Interactions, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege, Avenue de la Faculté d'Agronomie, B5030 Gembloux, Belgium
| | - Philippe Jacques
- TERRA Teaching and Research Centre, Microbial Processes and Interactions, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege, Avenue de la Faculté d'Agronomie, B5030 Gembloux, Belgium
| | - Valérie Leclère
- Univ. Lille, INRA, ISA, Univ. Artois, Univ. Littoral Côte d'Opale, EA 7394-ICV-Institut Charles Viollette, F-59000 Lille, France.
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Zhang JJ, Tang X, Moore BS. Genetic platforms for heterologous expression of microbial natural products. Nat Prod Rep 2019; 36:1313-1332. [PMID: 31197291 PMCID: PMC6750982 DOI: 10.1039/c9np00025a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Covering: 2005 up to 2019Natural products are of paramount importance in human medicine. Not only are most antibacterial and anticancer drugs derived directly from or inspired by natural products, many other branches of medicine, such as immunology, neurology, and cardiology, have similarly benefited from natural product-based drugs. Typically, the genetic material required to synthesize a microbial specialized product is arranged in a multigene biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC), which codes for proteins associated with molecule construction, regulation, and transport. The ability to connect natural product compounds to BGCs and vice versa, along with ever-increasing knowledge of biosynthetic machineries, has spawned the field of genomics-guided natural product genome mining for the rational discovery of new chemical entities. One significant challenge in the field of natural product genome mining is how to rapidly link orphan biosynthetic genes to their associated chemical products. This review highlights state-of-the-art genetic platforms to identify, interrogate, and engineer BGCs from diverse microbial sources, which can be broken into three stages: (1) cloning and isolation of genomic loci, (2) heterologous expression in a host organism, and (3) genetic manipulation of cloned pathways. In the future, we envision natural product genome mining will be rapidly accelerated by de novo DNA synthesis and refactoring of whole biosynthetic pathways in combination with systematic heterologous expression methodologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia Jia Zhang
- Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
| | - Xiaoyu Tang
- Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
| | - Bradley S Moore
- Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA. and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA
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Yu JJ, Holbrook E, Liao YR, Zarnowski R, Andes DR, Wheat LJ, Malo J, Hung CY. Characterization of an Uncinocarpus reesii-expressed recombinant tube precipitin antigen of Coccidioides posadasii for serodiagnosis. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0221228. [PMID: 31412087 PMCID: PMC6693751 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2019] [Accepted: 08/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Early and accurate diagnosis of coccidioidomycosis, also known as Valley fever, is critical for appropriate disease treatment and management. Current serodiagnosis is based on the detection of patient serum antibodies that react with tube precipitin (TP) and complement fixation (CF) antigens of Coccidioides. IgM is the first class of antibodies produced by hosts in response to coccidioidal insults. The highly glycosylated β-glucosidase 2 (BGL2) is a major active component of the TP antigen that stimulates IgM antibody responses during early Coccidioides infection. The predominant IgM epitope on BGL2 is a unique 3-O-methyl-mannose moiety that is not produced by commonly used protein expression systems. We genetically engineered and expressed a recombinant BGL2 (rBGL2ur), derived from Coccidioides, in non-pathogenic Uncinocarpus reesii, a fungus phylogenetically related to the Coccidioides pathogen. The rBGL2ur protein was purified from the culture medium of transformed U. reesii by nickel affinity chromatography, and the presence of 3-O-methyl mannose was demonstrated by gas chromatography. Seroreactivity of the purified rBGL2ur protein was tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using sera from 90 patients with coccidioidomycosis and 134 control individuals. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay with rBGL2ur were 78.8% and 87.3%, respectively. These results were comparable to those obtained using a proprietary MiraVista Diagnostic (MVD) IgM (63.3% sensitivity; 96.3% specificity), but significantly better than the ID-TP assay using non-concentrated patient sera (33.3% sensitivity; 100% specificity). Expression of rBGL2ur in U. reesii retains its antigenicity for coccidioidomycosis serodiagnosis and greatly reduces biosafety concerns for antigen production, as Coccidioides spp. are biological safety level 3 agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jieh-Juen Yu
- South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Disease and Department of Biology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
| | - Eric Holbrook
- MiraVista Diagnostics, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Yu-Rou Liao
- South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Disease and Department of Biology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
| | - Robert Zarnowski
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine & Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - David R. Andes
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine & Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - L. Joseph Wheat
- MiraVista Diagnostics, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Joshua Malo
- Department of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Chiung-Yu Hung
- South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Disease and Department of Biology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Hautbergue T, Jamin EL, Debrauwer L, Puel O, Oswald IP. From genomics to metabolomics, moving toward an integrated strategy for the discovery of fungal secondary metabolites. Nat Prod Rep 2019; 35:147-173. [PMID: 29384544 DOI: 10.1039/c7np00032d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Fungal secondary metabolites are defined by bioactive properties that ensure adaptation of the fungus to its environment. Although some of these natural products are promising sources of new lead compounds especially for the pharmaceutical industry, others pose risks to human and animal health. The identification of secondary metabolites is critical to assessing both the utility and risks of these compounds. Since fungi present biological specificities different from other microorganisms, this review covers the different strategies specifically used in fungal studies to perform this critical identification. Strategies focused on the direct detection of the secondary metabolites are firstly reported. Particularly, advances in high-throughput untargeted metabolomics have led to the generation of large datasets whose exploitation and interpretation generally require bioinformatics tools. Then, the genome-based methods used to study the entire fungal metabolic potential are reported. Transcriptomic and proteomic tools used in the discovery of fungal secondary metabolites are presented as links between genomic methods and metabolomic experiments. Finally, the influence of the culture environment on the synthesis of secondary metabolites by fungi is highlighted as a major factor to consider in research on fungal secondary metabolites. Through this review, we seek to emphasize that the discovery of natural products should integrate all of these valuable tools. Attention is also drawn to emerging technologies that will certainly revolutionize fungal research and to the use of computational tools that are necessary but whose results should be interpreted carefully.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Hautbergue
- Toxalim (Research Centre in Food Toxicology) Université de Toulouse, INRA, ENVT, INP-Purpan, UPS, F-31027 Toulouse, France.
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Wilken SE, Swift CL, Podolsky IA, Lankiewicz TS, Seppälä S, O'Malley MA. Linking ‘omics’ to function unlocks the biotech potential of non-model fungi. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.coisb.2019.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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Podolsky IA, Seppälä S, Lankiewicz TS, Brown JL, Swift CL, O'Malley MA. Harnessing Nature's Anaerobes for Biotechnology and Bioprocessing. Annu Rev Chem Biomol Eng 2019; 10:105-128. [PMID: 30883214 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-060718-030340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Industrial biotechnology has the potential to decrease our reliance on petroleum for fuel and bio-based chemical production and also enable valorization of waste streams. Anaerobic microorganisms thrive in resource-limited environments and offer an array of novel bioactivities in this regard that could revolutionize biomanufacturing. However, they have not been adopted for widespread industrial use owing to their strict growth requirements, limited number of available strains, difficulty in scale-up, and genetic intractability. This review provides an overview of current and future uses for anaerobes in biotechnology and bioprocessing in the postgenomic era. We focus on the recently characterized anaerobic fungi (Neocallimastigomycota) native to the digestive tract of large herbivores, which possess a trove of enzymes, pathways, transporters, and other biomolecules that can be harnessed for numerous biotechnological applications. Resolving current genetic intractability, scale-up, and cultivation challenges will unlock the potential of these lignocellulolytic fungi and other nonmodel micro-organisms to accelerate bio-based production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Igor A Podolsky
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA; , , , , ,
| | - Susanna Seppälä
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA; , , , , ,
| | - Thomas S Lankiewicz
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA; , , , , ,
| | - Jennifer L Brown
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA; , , , , ,
| | - Candice L Swift
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA; , , , , ,
| | - Michelle A O'Malley
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA; , , , , ,
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Inducible promoters and functional genomic approaches for the genetic engineering of filamentous fungi. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2018; 102:6357-6372. [PMID: 29860590 PMCID: PMC6061484 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-018-9115-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2018] [Revised: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 05/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
In industry, filamentous fungi have a prominent position as producers of economically relevant primary or secondary metabolites. Particularly, the advent of genetic engineering of filamentous fungi has led to a growing number of molecular tools to adopt filamentous fungi for biotechnical applications. Here, we summarize recent developments in fungal biology, where fungal host systems were genetically manipulated for optimal industrial applications. Firstly, available inducible promoter systems depending on carbon sources are mentioned together with various adaptations of the Tet-Off and Tet-On systems for use in different industrial fungal host systems. Subsequently, we summarize representative examples, where diverse expression systems were used for the production of heterologous products, including proteins from mammalian systems. In addition, the progressing usage of genomics and functional genomics data for strain improvement strategies are addressed, for the identification of biosynthesis genes and their related metabolic pathways. Functional genomic data are further used to decipher genomic differences between wild-type and high-production strains, in order to optimize endogenous metabolic pathways that lead to the synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant end products. Lastly, we discuss how molecular data sets can be used to modify products for optimized applications.
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Robey MT, Ye R, Bok JW, Clevenger KD, Islam MN, Chen C, Gupta R, Swyers M, Wu E, Gao P, Thomas PM, Wu CC, Keller NP, Kelleher NL. Identification of the First Diketomorpholine Biosynthetic Pathway Using FAC-MS Technology. ACS Chem Biol 2018; 13:1142-1147. [PMID: 29631395 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.8b00024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Filamentous fungi are prolific producers of secondary metabolites with drug-like properties, and their genome sequences have revealed an untapped wealth of potential therapeutic leads. To better access these secondary metabolites and characterize their biosynthetic gene clusters, we applied a new platform for screening and heterologous expression of intact gene clusters that uses fungal artificial chromosomes and metabolomic scoring (FAC-MS). We leverage FAC-MS technology to identify the biosynthetic machinery responsible for production of acu-dioxomorpholine, a metabolite produced by the fungus, Aspergilllus aculeatus. The acu-dioxomorpholine nonribosomal peptide synthetase features a new type of condensation domain (designated CR) proposed to use a noncanonical arginine active site for ester bond formation. Using stable isotope labeling and MS, we determine that a phenyllactate monomer deriving from phenylalanine is incorporated into the diketomorpholine scaffold. Acu-dioxomorpholine is highly related to orphan inhibitors of P-glycoprotein targets in multidrug-resistant cancers, and identification of the biosynthetic pathway for this compound class enables genome mining for additional derivatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew T. Robey
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Rosa Ye
- Intact
Genomics,
Inc., St Louis, Missouri 63132, United States
| | - Jin Woo Bok
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Kenneth D. Clevenger
- Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Md Nurul Islam
- Intact
Genomics,
Inc., St Louis, Missouri 63132, United States
| | - Cynthia Chen
- Intact
Genomics,
Inc., St Louis, Missouri 63132, United States
| | - Raveena Gupta
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Michael Swyers
- Intact
Genomics,
Inc., St Louis, Missouri 63132, United States
| | - Edward Wu
- Intact
Genomics,
Inc., St Louis, Missouri 63132, United States
| | - Peng Gao
- Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Paul M. Thomas
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
| | - Chengcang C. Wu
- Intact
Genomics,
Inc., St Louis, Missouri 63132, United States
| | - Nancy P. Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, United States
| | - Neil L. Kelleher
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States
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Yoshimi A, Yamaguchi S, Fujioka T, Kawai K, Gomi K, Machida M, Abe K. Heterologous Production of a Novel Cyclic Peptide Compound, KK-1, in Aspergillus oryzae. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:690. [PMID: 29686660 PMCID: PMC5900794 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2017] [Accepted: 03/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A novel cyclic peptide compound, KK-1, was originally isolated from the plant-pathogenic fungus Curvularia clavata. It consists of 10 amino acid residues, including five N-methylated amino acid residues, and has potent antifungal activity. Recently, the genome-sequencing analysis of C. clavata was completed, and the biosynthetic genes involved in KK-1 production were predicted by using a novel gene cluster mining tool, MIDDAS-M. These genes form an approximately 75-kb cluster, which includes nine open reading frames, containing a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) gene. To determine whether the predicted genes were responsible for the biosynthesis of KK-1, we performed heterologous production of KK-1 in Aspergillus oryzae by introduction of the cluster genes into the genome of A. oryzae. The NRPS gene was split in two fragments and then reconstructed in the A. oryzae genome, because the gene was quite large (approximately 40 kb). The remaining seven genes in the cluster, excluding the regulatory gene kkR, were simultaneously introduced into the strain of A. oryzae in which NRPS had already been incorporated. To evaluate the heterologous production of KK-1 in A. oryzae, gene expression was analyzed by RT-PCR and KK-1 productivity was quantified by HPLC. KK-1 was produced in variable quantities by a number of transformed strains, along with expression of the cluster genes. The amount of KK-1 produced by the strain with the greatest expression of all genes was lower than that produced by the original producer, C. clavata. Therefore, expression of the cluster genes is necessary and sufficient for the heterologous production of KK-1 in A. oryzae, although there may be unknown factors limiting productivity in this species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akira Yoshimi
- ABE-Project, New Industry Creation Hatchery Center, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | | | | | | | - Katsuya Gomi
- Laboratory of Bioindustrial Genomics, Department of Bioindustrial Informatics and Genomics, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Masayuki Machida
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Keietsu Abe
- ABE-Project, New Industry Creation Hatchery Center, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Department of Microbial Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- Department of Microbial Resources, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
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Clevenger KD, Ye R, Bok JW, Thomas PM, Islam MN, Miley GP, Robey MT, Chen C, Yang K, Swyers M, Wu E, Gao P, Wu CC, Keller NP, Kelleher NL. Interrogation of Benzomalvin Biosynthesis Using Fungal Artificial Chromosomes with Metabolomic Scoring (FAC-MS): Discovery of a Benzodiazepine Synthase Activity. Biochemistry 2018. [PMID: 29533658 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.8b00076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The benzodiazepine benzomalvin A/D is a fungally derived specialized metabolite and inhibitor of the substance P receptor NK1, biosynthesized by a three-gene nonribosomal peptide synthetase cluster. Here, we utilize fungal artificial chromosomes with metabolomic scoring (FAC-MS) to perform molecular genetic pathway dissection and targeted metabolomics analysis to assign the in vivo role of each domain in the benzomalvin biosynthetic pathway. The use of FAC-MS identified the terminal cyclizing condensation domain as BenY-CT and the internal C-domains as BenZ-C1 and BenZ-C2. Unexpectedly, we also uncovered evidence suggesting BenY-CT or a yet to be identified protein mediates benzodiazepine formation, representing the first reported benzodiazepine synthase enzymatic activity. This work informs understanding of what defines a fungal CT domain and shows how the FAC-MS platform can be used as a tool for in vivo analyses of specialized metabolite biosynthesis and for the discovery and dissection of new enzyme activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth D Clevenger
- Proteomics Center of Excellence , Northwestern University , Evanston , Illinois 60208 , United States
| | - Rosa Ye
- Intact Genomics, Inc. , St. Louis , Missouri 63132 , United States
| | - Jin Woo Bok
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , Wisconsin 53706 , United States
| | - Paul M Thomas
- Proteomics Center of Excellence , Northwestern University , Evanston , Illinois 60208 , United States.,Department of Molecular Biosciences , Northwestern University , Evanston , Illinois 60201 , United States
| | - Md Nurul Islam
- Intact Genomics, Inc. , St. Louis , Missouri 63132 , United States
| | - Galen P Miley
- Department of Chemistry , Northwestern University , Evanston , Illinois 60208 , United States
| | - Matthew T Robey
- Department of Molecular Biosciences , Northwestern University , Evanston , Illinois 60201 , United States
| | - Cynthia Chen
- Intact Genomics, Inc. , St. Louis , Missouri 63132 , United States
| | - KaHoua Yang
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , Wisconsin 53706 , United States
| | - Michael Swyers
- Intact Genomics, Inc. , St. Louis , Missouri 63132 , United States
| | - Edward Wu
- Intact Genomics, Inc. , St. Louis , Missouri 63132 , United States
| | - Peng Gao
- Proteomics Center of Excellence , Northwestern University , Evanston , Illinois 60208 , United States
| | - Chengcang C Wu
- Intact Genomics, Inc. , St. Louis , Missouri 63132 , United States
| | - Nancy P Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology , University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison , Wisconsin 53706 , United States
| | - Neil L Kelleher
- Proteomics Center of Excellence , Northwestern University , Evanston , Illinois 60208 , United States.,Department of Molecular Biosciences , Northwestern University , Evanston , Illinois 60201 , United States.,Department of Chemistry , Northwestern University , Evanston , Illinois 60208 , United States
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Bignell E, Cairns TC, Throckmorton K, Nierman WC, Keller NP. Secondary metabolite arsenal of an opportunistic pathogenic fungus. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2017; 371:rstb.2016.0023. [PMID: 28080993 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/26/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Aspergillus fumigatus is a versatile fungus able to successfully exploit diverse environments from mammalian lungs to agricultural waste products. Among its many fitness attributes are dozens of genetic loci containing biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) producing bioactive small molecules (often referred to as secondary metabolites or natural products) that provide growth advantages to the fungus dependent on environment. Here we summarize the current knowledge of these BGCs-18 of which can be named to product-their expression profiles in vivo, and which BGCs may enhance virulence of this opportunistic human pathogen. Furthermore, we find extensive evidence for the presence of many of these BGCs, or similar BGCs, in distantly related genera including the emerging pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose syndrome in bats, and suggest such BGCs may be predictive of pathogenic potential in other fungi.This article is part of the themed issue 'Tackling emerging fungal threats to animal health, food security and ecosystem resilience'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elaine Bignell
- Manchester Fungal Infection Group, Institute of Inflammation and Repair, 2.24 Core Technology Facility, Grafton Street, Manchester, M13 9NT, UK
| | - Timothy C Cairns
- Department of Applied and Molecular Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Berlin University of Technology, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, 13355 Berlin, Germany
| | - Kurt Throckmorton
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | | | - Nancy P Keller
- Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA, .,Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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47
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Hillman ET, Readnour LR, Solomon KV. Exploiting the natural product potential of fungi with integrated -omics and synthetic biology approaches. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.coisb.2017.07.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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48
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Clevenger KD, Bok JW, Ye R, Miley GP, Verdan MH, Velk T, Chen C, Yang K, Robey MT, Gao P, Lamprecht M, Thomas PM, Islam MN, Palmer JM, Wu CC, Keller NP, Kelleher NL. A scalable platform to identify fungal secondary metabolites and their gene clusters. Nat Chem Biol 2017; 13:895-901. [PMID: 28604695 PMCID: PMC5577364 DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2016] [Accepted: 03/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
The genomes of filamentous fungi contain up to 90 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) encoding diverse secondary metabolites-an enormous reservoir of untapped chemical potential. However, the recalcitrant genetics, cryptic expression, and unculturability of these fungi prevent scientists from systematically exploiting these gene clusters and harvesting their products. As heterologous expression of fungal BGCs is largely limited to the expression of single or partial clusters, we established a scalable process for the expression of large numbers of full-length gene clusters, called FAC-MS. Using fungal artificial chromosomes (FACs) and metabolomic scoring (MS), we screened 56 secondary metabolite BGCs from diverse fungal species for expression in Aspergillus nidulans. We discovered 15 new metabolites and assigned them with confidence to their BGCs. Using the FAC-MS platform, we extensively characterized a new macrolactone, valactamide A, and its hybrid nonribosomal peptide synthetase-polyketide synthase (NRPS-PKS). The ability to regularize access to fungal secondary metabolites at an unprecedented scale stands to revitalize drug discovery platforms with renewable sources of natural products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth D Clevenger
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
- Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Jin Woo Bok
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Rosa Ye
- Intact Genomics, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Galen P Miley
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Maria H Verdan
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Thomas Velk
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | | | - KaHoua Yang
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Matthew T Robey
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | - Peng Gao
- Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | | | - Paul M Thomas
- Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
| | | | - Jonathan M Palmer
- Center for Forest Mycology Research, Northern Research Station, US Forest Service, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | | | - Nancy P Keller
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Neil L Kelleher
- Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
- Proteomics Center of Excellence, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
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49
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Erlendson AA, Friedman S, Freitag M. A Matter of Scale and Dimensions: Chromatin of Chromosome Landmarks in the Fungi. Microbiol Spectr 2017; 5:10.1128/microbiolspec.FUNK-0054-2017. [PMID: 28752814 PMCID: PMC5536859 DOI: 10.1128/microbiolspec.funk-0054-2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Chromatin and chromosomes of fungi are highly diverse and dynamic, even within species. Much of what we know about histone modification enzymes, RNA interference, DNA methylation, and cell cycle control was first addressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Aspergillus nidulans, and Neurospora crassa. Here, we examine the three landmark regions that are required for maintenance of stable chromosomes and their faithful inheritance, namely, origins of DNA replication, telomeres and centromeres. We summarize the state of recent chromatin research that explains what is required for normal function of these specialized chromosomal regions in different fungi, with an emphasis on the silencing mechanism associated with subtelomeric regions, initiated by sirtuin histone deacetylases and histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27) methyltransferases. We explore mechanisms for the appearance of "accessory" or "conditionally dispensable" chromosomes and contrast what has been learned from studies on genome-wide chromosome conformation capture in S. cerevisiae, S. pombe, N. crassa, and Trichoderma reesei. While most of the current knowledge is based on work in a handful of genetically and biochemically tractable model organisms, we suggest where major knowledge gaps remain to be closed. Fungi will continue to serve as facile organisms to uncover the basic processes of life because they make excellent model organisms for genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, and evolutionary biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allyson A. Erlendson
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331
| | - Steven Friedman
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331
| | - Michael Freitag
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331
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Interpreting Microbial Biosynthesis in the Genomic Age: Biological and Practical Considerations. Mar Drugs 2017; 15:md15060165. [PMID: 28587290 PMCID: PMC5484115 DOI: 10.3390/md15060165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2017] [Revised: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 05/31/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Genome mining has become an increasingly powerful, scalable, and economically accessible tool for the study of natural product biosynthesis and drug discovery. However, there remain important biological and practical problems that can complicate or obscure biosynthetic analysis in genomic and metagenomic sequencing projects. Here, we focus on limitations of available technology as well as computational and experimental strategies to overcome them. We review the unique challenges and approaches in the study of symbiotic and uncultured systems, as well as those associated with biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) assembly and product prediction. Finally, to explore sequencing parameters that affect the recovery and contiguity of large and repetitive BGCs assembled de novo, we simulate Illumina and PacBio sequencing of the Salinispora tropica genome focusing on assembly of the salinilactam (slm) BGC.
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